HP DL380 G4 and VMware: Will Not Run 64-bit Virtualized Guests.

I read all the Internet debates about how it might or it might not and I can confirm that I tried it and it didn’t work. The server runs the host OS, SuSE Linux 64-bit, beautifully but it totally craps out when a 64-bit guest OS install is attempted. EM64T doesn’t do VT so.. if that’s what you’re looking for, start with the HP DL380 G5.

This server still has its benefits however. Including 6 drive slots (2×72,2×147,2×36 SCSI YAY), capacity for up to 12 GB of RAM (I installed 10) and it’s decently affordable. Another thing that I love about it is that I can change the POST text. How fun is that? So I made it say something that makes me laugh everytime. See if you can spot it:

Chrissy is a PowerShell MVP who has worked in IT for nearly 20 years, and currently serves as a Sr. Database Engineer in Belgium. Always an avid scripter, she attended the Monad session at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles back in 2005 and has worked and played with PowerShell ever since. Chrissy is currently pursuing an MS in Systems Engineering at Regis University and helps maintain
RealCajunRecipes.com in her spare time. She holds a number of certifications, including those relating to SQL Server, SuSE Linux, SharePoint and network security. She recently became co-lead of the SQL PASS PowerShell Virtual Chapter. You can follow her on Twitter at @cl.

5 comments on “HP DL380 G4 and VMware: Will Not Run 64-bit Virtualized Guests.”

Yeah, and I was lookin so forward to that beast running Exchange 2k7. Now I’m going to have to virtualize it on my Rackable Systems AMD64s :( But I guess I at least have that option, as slower and less reliable as it is.

You can’t run Hyper-V either on anything less than a G5 as well… and I’m seeing killer prices on some G6’s now as well. BTW, I’ve been playing with a Dell R710 (and I’m not a dell fan due to some bad experiences) and it’s bad to the bone. It’s 2x quad core but each core is hyperthreaded so it shows up as 16 processors in Windows. It’s SCREAMING FAST… It’s about to make a convert out of me.

I was a bit bummed as well as I just picked up this G4 just for Exchange… :(